As part of the blog tour celebrating the release of Paul Finch’s third book The Killing Club, I am delighted to be able to post the opening extract to set your crime pulses racing. Having read the book already, I can guarantee that you will quickly be hooked on Heck, the maverick detective who is both a colourful and compelling character. As the ghosts of a previous case come back to taunt DS Mark ‘Heck’ Heckenburg, strap yourselves in for a gritty, fast moving and action packed read, travelling the length and breadth of the British Isles in pursuit of a cold, calculating and violent group of men. Heck is a real man’s man and given half a chance probably a ladies man too, and you will be rooting for him solidly throughout the book, as he pivots from one moment of peril to another. Don’t worry if this is the first you read as Finch’s succinct inclusion of the back story is welcoming to new readers, and a good refresher for established ones. A great read for the beach or a lazy afternoon in the back garden as summer approaches, and a hell of a ride. Enjoy!

EXTRACT- THE KILLING CLUB

Gull Rock was just about the last place on Earth.

Situated on a bleak headland south of that vast tidal inlet called ‘the Wash’, it was far removed from any kind of civilisation, and battered constantly by furious elements. Even on England’s east coast, no place was lonelier, drearier, nor more intimidating in terms of its sheer isolation. Though ultimately this was a good thing, for Gull Rock Prison (aka HM Prison Brancaster) held the very worst of the worst. And this was no exaggeration, even by the standards of ‘Category A’. None of Gull Rock’s inmates was serving less than ten years, and they included in their number some of the most depraved murderers, most violent robbers and most relentless rapists in Britain, not to mention gangsters, terrorists and urban street-hoodlums for whom the word ‘deranged’ could have been invented.

When Detective Superintendent Gemma Piper drove onto its visitor car park that dull morning, her aquamarine Mercedes E-class was the only vehicle there, but this was no surprise. Visits to inmates at Gull Rock were strictly limited.

She climbed out and regarded the distant concrete edifice. It was early September, but this was an exposed location; a stiff breeze gusted in across the North Sea, driving uncountable white-caps ahead of it, lofting hundreds of raucous seabirds skyward, and ruffling her tangle of ash-blonde hair. She buttoned up her raincoat and adjusted the bundle of plastic-wrapped folders under her arm.

Another vehicle now rumbled off the approach road, and pulled into a parking bay alongside her: a white Toyota GT.

She ignored it, staring at the outline of the prison. In keeping with its ‘special security’ status, it was noticeably lacking in windows. The grey walls of its various residential blocks were faceless and sheer, any connecting passages between them running underground. A towering outer wall, topped with barbed wire, encircled these soulless inner structures, the only gate in it a massive slab of reinforced steel, while outside it lay concentric rings of electrified fencing…

Paul Finch is a former cop and journalist, now turned full time writer. He first cut his literary teeth penning episodes of the British TV crime drama, The Bill, and has written extensively in the field of children’s animation. However, he is probably best known for his work in horrors and thrillers.

His debut crime novel, Stalkers, was published last year and introduced DS Mark ‘Heck’ Heckenburg. It became a number one eBook bestseller and was followed by the sequel, Sacrifice. The third in the series, The Killing Club, is out now.